Despite vetoing a "bathroom bill" earlier this month, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam has signed into law House Bill 1840, which allows licensed therapists and psychiatrists to turn away LGBT people on religious grounds.

In a statement, the Tennessee Equality Project (TEP) said HB 1840 "damages the counseling profession and puts vulnerable clients at risk."

"We are particularly concerned about rural LGBT people who already have limited access to affirming mental health services...[The] Legislature has opened the door to discrimination in Tennessee and our state could experience the same national wrath that Indiana, North Carolina, and Mississippi are now facing."

The measure was also roundly criticized by various national counseling and mental health groups. GLAAD president Sarah Kate Ellis criticized Nashville's recording industry for "remain[ing] silent throughout the fight to pass this discriminatory law."

Individual artists like Miley Cyrus and country singer Ty Herndon did speak out against the measure.

The new law could jeopardize federal funding for the The Volunteer State, as it contradicts Health and Human Services regulations that ban denying healthcare to patients based on religion, race, sexual orientation and other protected classes.